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Patrick S. Canfield leaves Courtroom No. 6 on Tues-day after being sentenced at the county courthouse.

Patrick S. Canfield succeeded Tuesday in convincing a judge that he should not go to prison for shooting a cat with a crossbow last August in Lake Wynonah.

"I didn't shoot this cat because I hate animals," Canfield, 37, of New Philadelphia, told Schuylkill County Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin before being placed on probation for six months on a cruelty to animals charge.

Dolbin also sentenced Canfield to perform 150 hours community service - 75 at each of the county's SPCAs, Ruth M. Steinert Memorial in Pine Grove and Hillside in Pottsville - pay costs, a $250 fine, $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and $1,094.71 restitution to the cat's owner, Amy Fisher, who nevertheless disliked the lack of a prison term as part of the defendant's sentence.

"I'm very disappointed," said Fisher, Lake Wynonah, whose cat, Oscar, was Canfield's victim. "The crime that he committed is worthy of jail time and he deserved that. Animals deserve justice as well."

Dolbin did not give the reason why he imposed the sentence.

Workers at both SPCA facilities were shocked by the sentencing, and at least one said Canfield could not work at her shelter.

"We are not accepting him at the shelter. We were not consulted and we do not want him," Tricia Moyer, Hillside SPCA assistant manager, said Tuesday. "We are not run by the county and we certainly do not have to let anyone we do not trust work with our animals, and we do not trust him."

Moyer said Canfield would have to be watched continually while he was working, something the shelter does not have the manpower to do.

"We work very hard taking care of these animals and we don't have time to hold his hand," she said. "We could never allow him to walk any of the animals down the road or do anything where we couldn't watch him every second. You would not allow a pedophile to work in a school and an animal abuser should not be allowed to work at an animal shelter."

Jessica Bettinger, manager of the Ruth M. Steinert Memorial SPCA, said the shelter was not consulted before the sentencing was done.

"He's going to cut a lot of grass. We work very hard to protect the animals we have here," Bettinger said. "To have an individual like that, one the court deemed committed an act of cruelty, at the heart of the animal community in these shelters is an outrage."

Bettinger said she did not know if the shelter could refuse Canfield's admittance, since it was court-ordered.

"I told the board as soon as I heard and we will see what we can do," Bettinger said. "We certainly can't leave him here unsupervised."

Canfield pleaded guilty June 6, the day he was to go on trial before a jury and Dolbin, to shooting Oscar.

State police at Schuylkill Haven charged Canfield with shooting Oscar, a pet cat of Fisher and Paul Flecha, between 10 and 10:30 p.m. Aug. 5, 2010, at 1763 Running Deer Drive, South Manheim Township. Oscar survived the incident and continues to live with Flecha and Fisher.

Canfield said he shot Oscar only after Oscar acted threateningly.

"I did not shoot this cat until it became aggressive," he told Dolbin. "It was not intended to be a malicious act because I hate cats."

Fisher had testified Tuesday that Oscar showed no aggressive behavior toward anyone and that no one ever had complained about him, a position she maintained even when cross-examined by Arlen R. Day II, Pottsville, Canfield's lawyer.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas J. Campion Jr. did not ask Dolbin to impose a specific sentence.

"We'll leave it to the discretion of the court," Campion told the judge.

Day successfully asked Dolbin to impose probation instead of a prison sentence on his client, and said after the hearing that the sentence was appropriate.

"This is not a case of an animal-hater killing a cat," he said.

Day had told Dolbin that Canfield's girlfriend, who did not identify, would have testified that she was afraid of Oscar.

Campion declined to comment after the hearing on its result.

A petition signed by 1,853 people, asking for a stiff sentence for Canfield, had been presented to prosecutors, but it was not mentioned at the hearing.

Like Fisher, Flecha thought Canfield should have been sent to prison.

"I'm with Amy," he said. "I'm glad it's over but I'm disappointed with the sentencing."

Flecha also said Oscar survived the shooting but is fighting an illness at this time.

Al "Alley Cat" Chernoff, of Rescue Ink, a New York City animal rights group, traveled to Pottsville for the sentencing and also was unhappy with the result.

"Somebody that commits a crime like this should be punished to the maximum extent," he said. "They start out abusing animals and then they move on to other easy victims, women, children, seniors, people who can't defend themselves."Defendant: Patrick S. Canfield

Age: 37

Residence: New Philadelphia

Crime committed: Cruelty to animals

Sentence: Six months probation and 150 hours community service

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